


A Fork in the Hallway

by popfly



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: Gapfillerpalooza, M/M, implied infedility
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-05-05
Updated: 2005-05-05
Packaged: 2017-11-19 16:03:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/575075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/popfly/pseuds/popfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gapfiller for season two, episode sixteen. Justin comes to a fork in the road.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Fork in the Hallway

Justin was at a fork in the road.

Or really, a fork in the hallway. And it wasn't even a fork so much as it was a set of doors that led to the music building. But it felt like a fork in the road. Or a crossroads, maybe.

Whatever it was, it felt big.

Justin stared down the hall in the direction he should be heading if he didn't want to be late for Life Drawing. He thought about walking down the hall, through the door of the studio and taking his seat. He thought it and thought it but he couldn't get his feet to move.

His eyes went back to the doors. 

He could see students moving beyond the panes of glass, instrument cases slung over their shoulders. He imagined them setting up in their spaces, sucking on their reeds like Molly had done for a full hour before her first clarinet recital, or tuning their violins ...

Justin reached for the handle of the door and pulled, pausing only a moment on the other side to take a deep breath.

He knew he looked out of place with his portfolio bumping against his back instead of a guitar case. He felt slightly out of place, and almost guilty, but he also felt like he was doing the right thing.

What that meant he didn't really want to try to figure out.

He didn't want his heart to speed up when he heard the violin music. He didn't want to smile to himself when he found Ethan in one of the rooms. He didn't want to stop and lean against the doorframe and watch him play.

And he didn't want to act like a girl when Ethan noticed him, either.

But he did all of those things anyway, and a part of him was starting to feel like it was being rebelled against. Part of him wanted to cringe away from Ethan's cheesy lines while the rest of him laughed and leaned forward. Part of him wanted to turn and run when Ethan touched the tip of his bow to his chest and started talking about being his boyfriend.

But the things Ethan was saying ... Justin hadn't ever had anyone talk to him like that before. He was used to Babylon come-ons, slurred words drowned out by a bass beat and sticky fingers in the waist band of his pants, or Brian's ever so eloquent versions, "let's fuck" or "roll over". 

Justin recoiled the second Brian's name entered his thoughts, and he made an excuse about getting to class even though it was already fifteen minutes in and Justin knew full well he wasn't going. He backed out of the room slowly and fought the urge to break into a run when he was back in the hall, but he still felt like the violin music was chasing him back towards the exit.

The guilt never stopped, and the part of him that hadn't wanted him to come in the first place was now telling him to go home, go to Brian.

The bus ride back to the loft was like torture, Justin's two parts warring the whole way.

He vowed to go home and get rid of Ethan's CD, he vowed to focus on Rage. He would sit and draw until Brian got home, and then they'd go to Babylon or to bed, and either way he'd be with Brian, just with Brian, because Brian was all he'd ever wanted. 

Justin's last vow to himself was that he'd never cut through the music building again.


End file.
